The invention relates to a method for starting a battery management system which has a central controller and at least one battery module with a plurality of battery cells and a sensor controller.
In addition, a data structure, a computer program and a battery management system, which are in particular set up to perform the method, are specified. A battery and a motor vehicle with such a battery are also specified.
Electronic controllers are used in increasing numbers in the automotive environment today. Examples of these are engine controllers and controllers for ABS or the airbag. For electrically driven vehicles, the focal point of research today is the development of powerful battery packs having associated battery management systems, i.e. controllers that are equipped with a piece of software for monitoring the battery functionality. Battery management systems ensure the safe and reliable operation, inter alia, of the battery cells and battery packs used. They monitor and control currents, voltages, temperatures, isolating resistors and further variables for individual cells and/or the entire battery pack. These variables can be used to provide management functions that increase the life, reliability and security of the battery system.
Battery management systems consist of a multiplicity of controllers on which individual software functionalities are executed. Depending on the number of battery cells, the number of sensors and the distribution of the battery modules in different installation spaces in the vehicle, this results in a controller topology with a central controller and a plurality of subordinate sensor controllers for the detection of measurement data directly at the individual battery modules. The detected data is exchanged between the controllers via a communication channel, for example a CAN bus (CAN: controller area network).
DE 10 2010 041 492 A1 discloses a method for monitoring a battery, wherein measured variables such as the voltage, the temperature or the like are detected. The security functions are implemented by modular software in programmable data processing devices.
EP 2 180 574 A2 discloses a battery management system with a central control device, a program memory device connected thereto, a data memory device and a sensor interface device. The sequence control of the battery management system is software-based.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,341,449 B2 describes a method for transmitting data within a battery management system with a battery monitoring unit, a communication bus and a central controller. The battery monitoring unit is identified by a so-called node ID which is stored in an assigned hardware component and can be called by an assigned processor. On the basis of the node ID, a network ID is generated by the processor. The sensors assigned to the battery monitoring devices transmit measurement data to the central controller using the network ID.
DE 10 2010 038 886 A1 describes a central battery controller for monitoring a plurality of spatially distributed battery modules having a plurality of battery cells. The central controller exchanges information relating to the monitoring of the voltage, the temperature and the current of the battery cells with the distributed battery modules. The number of battery cells is not predefined in the battery modules, but rather can be determined at the beginning, for example by configuration of the battery controller.